


Blood and Water

by Mistress_of_Squirrels



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/M, Gen, far harbor spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-05-24
Packaged: 2018-06-10 08:27:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6947725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mistress_of_Squirrels/pseuds/Mistress_of_Squirrels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ying deals with the aftermath of her decisions in Far Harbor</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blood and Water

**Author's Note:**

> Contains spoilers for Far Harbor

An uncomfortable silence hung over the small boat as it chugged its way through the murky waves. Ying swallowed back the queasy rolling of her stomach, eyes fixed on the horizon as she searched for the misty silhouette of land that would signal this little trip to hell was finally over. God, she hated the ocean. It was fine in theory, pretty even, in its own way, but if she never set foot on another sea-faring vessel, it would still be too soon.

The boat hit a particularly nasty swell and Ying stumbled as it lurched, grabbing the side to keep her footing. Hancock reached out a hand to steady her and she buried her face in his chest, moaning out a quiet curse. A low chuckle rumbled through his chest as he stroked her hair.

“You puke on the outfit, you’re gettin’ the bill,” he warned.

Ying tilted her head back just enough to send him a mild glare but said nothing, figuring the ghoul was probably due some small measure of revenge after enduring every pirate pun and joke she could think of the entire trip to Far Harbor. Realizing she needed the distraction, Hancock had put up with her teasing, even after she ran out of fuel beyond the occasional and random “Yarg!” It had worked, too, but after everything that had happened on the island, no one was in the mood for jokes.

Sneaking a glance around Hancock’s shoulder, Ying saw that Nick was still standing near the cabin, staring blankly out over the gray water. The detective hadn’t moved from that spot or spoken since they’d left the harbor. With a sigh, Ying pulled away from Hancock and carefully made her way to the synth.

“Hey, Nick,” she greeted, seating herself on a crate. “You doing okay?”

He took so long to answer that at first Ying wasn’t sure if he’d even heard the question. Just as she was about to repeat herself, Nick looked over at her, the glow of his eyes dim with regret. “No,” he said quietly. “No, I don’t think I am. All that talk about family, and in the end, we got him killed.”

Ying shook her head, lips pursed in a frown. “ _We_ didn’t get him killed, Nick. DiMA managed that one on his own.”

“Yeah?” Nick sighed. “I’m having some trouble seeing the difference, here.”

“The difference is that he turned himself over to Far Harbor’s version of justice,” Ying replied, voice firm.

“You forgetting your part in that?”

“Not at all.” Ying regarded the detective with narrowed eyes. “What did you expect, Nick? He murdered a woman and replaced her with a synth. He wanted to do the same thing to Tektus.” Scrubbing a hand over her face, Ying fought to keep her composure as she added, “Look, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry it all went down the way it did. That wasn’t how I wanted things to go.”

“Well, I’m glad you care that much, at least,” Nick muttered, looking away.

Ying’s limited supply of patience was fast approaching its end. “That’s not fair! DiMA was pulling the same shit the Institute did – the same shit Father did. I killed my own _son_ to put a stop to that – something you had nothing but praise for, by the way – and I don’t have the luxury of just ‘forgetting’ any of it!

“I didn’t want to see DiMA die anymore than you did, but you can’t apply rules to one person and make an exception for others just because you suddenly have a personal stake in it.”

“And the rest of the island?” Nick asked. “What about them? I don’t agree with his methods, but all DiMA wanted was peace, a safe haven for synths.”

“Easy talk when you control the main players,” Ying snorted, giving an angry toss of her head. “DiMA’s peace was fabricated. At least now the people have a real shot at working something out for themselves. I’ve got the codes for the kill switch and the nuke, and Avery has agreed to let Acadia be. We did what we could, Nick – without adding another murder to the list. The details are their problem.”

“I guess we’ll just have to tell ourselves that,” Nick said quietly. “So we can move on when people keep getting hurt.” He gestured out toward the water, and Ying followed the motion to see that they were approaching the Nakanos’ dock. “I don’t think I can keep talking about this. Let’s just get it done and hit the road, alright? DiMA…all of it – it just hits close to home.”

“I understand that, Nick,” Ying murmured, but the detective had already walked away, his back to her as he waited to exit the boat.

Ying sat back against the side of the cabin, crossing her arms over her chest and chewing at her bottom lip, unable to shake the feeling that something had shifted in her relationship with the old synth - perhaps irreparably so. She wanted to look past it all, go back to the way things used to be between them, but DiMA’s death seemed an insurmountable obstacle to that. A part of her did sympathize with Nick’s position, but another, still raw and bleeding after the destruction of the Institute and its leader, was angry.

Nothing had changed. She’d applied the same morals and ideals to DiMA as she had anyone else. Not even her own flesh and blood had been exempt from that. If the detective had been expecting something more from her, that was his fault; he ought to know her well enough by now, and it wasn’t as though she didn’t regret her part in any of it.

DiMA had made mistakes, but that didn’t negate the good he’d done for Far Harbor, or the good he might have continued to do. But if he truly believed in equality for everyone on the island, he couldn’t hold himself above the rest and manipulate from the shadows. He’d seen that, in the end. It didn’t make it any easier, but going to Far Harbor and confessing his crimes had been his choice. 

The boat bumped against the dock, jolting her from her thoughts, and Ying looked up to see Hancock coming towards her. Nick, she noted, was already on the dock and walking toward the house where Kasumi’s parents waited.

“Hey, Sunshine.” Hancock brushed his fingers against her cheek, concern deepening the lines around his black eyes. “You alright?”

Ying dropped her gaze to the brine stained boards of the deck and shrugged, unable to commit to an answer for him. “Did I do the right thing?”

The ghoul nudged her over to make room for himself and then sat down beside her. “Not sure I can answer that, doll. If there was a ‘right’ way to handle that shit, I sure as hell didn’t see it. Better question is, could you have done anything different and still faced yourself in the mirror?”

Ying silently went over the solution DiMA had presented again and shook her head. “No. Even if I could have avoided killing Tektus, loose ends have a way of coming back to bite you in the ass. Besides, what would have happened the next time the peace was threatened? DiMA’d already set a precedent for how to deal with it, and justified his actions with that ‘greater good’ bullshit. Father made the same claims for everything he did, too. No one needed the Institute 2.0.”

“You ain’t wrong, there,” Hancock agreed. “Look, you did the best you could, and they’re a damn sight better off now than they were when we got there. Kid’s home safe, the folks at the harbor can get their land back, the Children of Atom can go back to prayin’ for division without the means to actually blow themselves up, and the Railroad has someplace to send all the synths from the Institue.”

“And maybe now they’ll lay off the damn mind wipes,” Ying added, and then sighed. “I just wish it wouldn’t have cost me a friend.”

“Don’t give up on Nicky. Guy finds out he’s got a brother, and just as he’s warmin’ to the idea, he loses ‘im.”

“I know, Hancock. Believe me, I _get it_. Only Father – _Shaun -_ wasn’t some long-lost brother I never knew existed until a week ago. He was my _son_. I carried him, fed him, changed him…I- I _loved_ him…” Ying’s voice cracked as she angrily swiped at a few tears that managed to escape from beneath her lashes. She drew a deep breath, continuing, “And then I found him and I killed him, because it was the only way to stop what he and the Institute were doing.”

Hancock pulled her against him, rubbing his scarred cheek against the top of her head. “I know, doll.”

“So why should DiMA be any different?” she demanded, meeting the ghoul’s eyes. “Why should he get a pass for doing the same shit Shaun did?”

“Nick’s not thinkin’ about any of that,” Hancock soothed. “Right now, he’s hurtin’. Give the guy time to come to terms with it all. Don’t go writin’ ‘im off just yet.”

Ying’s shoulders slumped as she let out a shaky exhale. “Yeah. Maybe.” Twisting until she was facing him, she pressed a kiss to the corner of his ruined mouth. “Thanks, John,” she whispered against the ghoul’s lips. “For…perspective, I guess.”

Hancock cupped her cheek, brushing his thumb beneath her eye to wipe away the lingering tracks from her tears. “Always, love. You’ll work this shit out. Just give it time,” he repeated.

It was difficult to let something sit for later. If she wasn’t actively ignoring a problem, Ying wanted to face it head-on, but neither tactic was going to salvage her friendship with the detective. Pretending everything was fine between them wasn’t possible, and she wouldn’t force a conversation he’d opted out of even if she could. That left the uncomfortable middle ground of not only waiting on Nick, but trusting that the relationship they had could withstand the events of Far Harbor.

“Yeah, you’re right.” she said at last. “It’s not like I can do anything else, right now anyway.” 

Ying nodded toward the Nakano residence and stood, offering a hand to help the ghoul up. “Come on. Kasumi should be back by now. At least someone might get a happy ending out of all of this.”

“Right behind ya, Sunshine.”


End file.
